The Basics

What is the ICANetwork Smartphone App Service?

It's a cutting-edge, cloud-based app-creation service that enables your business to own, manage, and distribute your own Smart Phone App and Mobile-enabled Website which are primarily designed to inform and engage your customers - wherever they are - at home, at work, or on-the-go.

What is a Smartphone App?

Have you ever seen the TV commercial that says... "There's an App for that!"?
The word APP refers to specialty or business applications that are available
to iPhone users, Smartphones, and other handheld mobile devices such as the
iPod-Touch. In our case, we offer a multi-page, full-featured App structured
primarily for use as a marketing tool. Our app is both downloadable from the iTunes App Store and Google Play store AND accessible as a standalone mini Mobile web site.

How do people who do not have an iPhones or Android get to see my App?

The app that we provide you is available as a free download from the Apple and Google App stores. Users of other devices may view your app as a Mobile Website - which will contain the same pages and offer the same features.

Apps cost upwards of $10,000. How can you charge so much less?

Demand for apps are so high, their base prices are usually in the thousands-of-dollars.
However, because our service uses Web-based resources and the growing Mobile
2.0 technology, we are able to offer practical yet powerful business apps for
much less. It will be more practical for you to use our service than to job
this out or hire your own programmers. With our service, you can get started
in minutes, not weeks or months.

What is the single biggest advantage of having my own App?

There are several advantages, but the single most important one is "PERSISTENT
PRESENCE".
With your own app / mobile website, your app resides on your customers' phones. You can say that, in
a polite and productive way, you are "constantly in their face". They
are always reminded of you and your information is consistently and instantly
available to them - anywhere, anytime - 24/7. No other advertising tool can
offer the same ability to inform and engage customers. That is the power of
having your own app.

How often can I change the contents of my App?

Anytime you want, as often as you want. In fact, your app has a page
called the "Alert Page" which is practically the first page
of your app. This is where you post any updates, special messages, new
promotional offers, etc. We even encourage you to post a new alert everyday,
so you can engage customers to make it a habit to open your app and
check your alerts on a regular basis.

Can I use my own custom images in my App?

Yes! This is highly recommended in fact. For additional information about the specific pages
that make up your app and mobile website, please refer to the PAGE CHART which
defines the purpose, features, and functionalities of each individual page,
as well as the specifications of images that go with each page.

App & Mobile Website

How will my users download or access my App?

Your app will be available in both the Apple App Store as well as the Google Play Store. You can direct your users there through a web address, or by using a QR code (which we provide you). Once your user downloads it, they will be prompted to enter your Shotcode (which you select when creating your app). The Shortcode tells the app to load the content of your app for your user.

Alternately, you may send your users to a web version of your App without requiring them to download it from one of the App stores. We provide you a permanent web address as well as a QR code for this purpose. All your users will still be prompted to register with your app and those who do will be entered into your text messaging system. (However note that Push Notifications are only supported through the downloadable version of your app.)

How do I capture information about users of my app?

When a user first downloads your app and enters your Shortcode (or visits the web version of your app), they are automatically prompted to register with your app on a breif form. The form captures the name, phone number, and email address
of the user. All data captured through this form is available to you through
your Advertiser Back Office.

When I installed my app, I noticed that there were some "permissions"
that I had to approve. What did that mean?

A. As with any app, especially communication apps, our app must interact with
your smartphone. There are certain things that the app has to do internally,
and that is what it need permission to do.

Here is a list of permissions that the app MIGHT ask for, and what they mean:

Modify, delete and read storage: Gives the app permission to access
the storage on your device in order to save and edit files. Most apps will require
some kind of access, if only to keep temporary logs on your device.

Find and use accounts on the device: Google, Facebook, Twitter. These
accounts are often integral to the way we use our phones, letting us tweet from
anywhere or access Gmail from multiple apps. This permission gives an app the
ability to tap into these accounts without jumping through hoops to make life
more convenient for you.

Full network access: Just like the software on your laptop, most apps
require some kind of Internet access, whether it's for software updates, syncing
or retrieving data from online resources.

Phone status and identity: Don't panic: this doesn't mean it can listen
in on your phone calls. This permission enables apps to recognize when a call
comes in and give you the opportunity to answer it, pausing the current app
in the background in the meantime.

Prevent phone from sleeping: When your phone or tablet goes into sleep
mode, it can interrupt certain processes, such as data being written to the
internal storage. This permission enables an app to keep your device 'awake'
while important system tasks are being carried out; it can also be used by video
players, for example, to keep the screen on.

Read and send text messages: Plenty of apps want to replace your phone's
SMS functionality, and this permission can also be used to automatically scan
your incoming texts for authorization codes (used where two-step authentication
is involved).

Read your contacts: The ability to share content with your friends in
some way is often the underlying purpose, though the permission might also be
requested so that the app can quickly auto-complete the names of your contacts
whenever required.

SMS Text and Push Notification System

Can I just use my SMS Text and Push Notification system for my marketing without having to use my
app?

You can, but that's a waste. For example, if you want your customers to receive
an image (like a coupon or a photo of a product), you can have them link back
to your App or Mobile Website. Considering that more and more people use apps
and are now browsing the Mobile Web, it would be wasteful for you not to use
your App & Mobile Website when they are the most highly-desired customer
engagement tools in the market today.

Can I just use my App & Mobile Website and not use my SMS Text and Push Notification System?

Yes, you may. Your app will still collect user data which is available to you in your App's back office. But, you are not required to send notifications.